UN divided over Syria violence
A deeply divided United Nations Security Council failed to agree on a European and US-backed statement condemning Syrian violence against peaceful protesters.
Russia warned that outside interference could lead to civil war, saying security forces were also killed and the actions did not threaten international peace.
“A real threat could arise from outside interference or taking of sides,” Russia’s deputy UN ambassador Alexander Pankin told the UN’s most powerful body during a public session that followed.
China and India called for political dialogue and peaceful resolution of the crisis, with no mention of condemnation. And Lebanon’s UN ambassador Nawaf Salam stressed the country’s special relationship with Syria, saying “the hearts and minds” of the Lebanese people were with the Syrian people and were supporting President Bashar Assad’s lifting of the state of emergency and reforms.
France, Britain, Germany and Portugal had circulated a draft media statement on Monday calling for the 15-member council to condemn the violence. But during consultations last night, several members were opposed, so at the request of the Europeans and the UN, the security council then moved into open session to hear a briefing from the world body’s political chief and statements from council members.
Syria’s UN ambassador Bashar Ja’afari welcomed the council’s inaction and questioned the “unprecedented enthusiasm” by some members for the statement and a “lack of such enthusiasm” for attempting to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The ambassador blamed the violence on “extremist groups whose fundamental objective is clearly the fall of the Syrian government” and said law enforcement had acted with the “utmost restraint” to prevent the killing of civilians.
He waved a list of 51 members of the armed forces he said were killed “by armed gangs.”
Mr Ja’afari said the campaign by extremists began as information surfaced of outside parties “financing acts of sabotage”. He pointed to a report of the US government financing an opposition satellite television station and opposition figures bent on ousting Assad.
Mr Ja’afari defended the government’s reforms, said more would come and that the government had detained members of “extremist circles” in Daraa, the city at the heart of the Syrian uprising, and confiscated sophisticated weapons including machine guns. He said those detained admitted their crimes and said they received “large sums for their acts”.
But UN political chief Lynn Pascoe and the United States and European nations painted a very different picture of events.
Mr Pascoe told the council that “a review of the reports of media, international human rights groups, UN agencies and diplomatic missions confirm that the overwhelming majority of protests have been peaceful and unarmed”.
“However, there have been credible reports of a very few instances where protesters have used force, resulting in the deaths of members of the security forces,” he said.
He said Human Rights Watch documented just one with eyewitness testimony, on April 8 in Daraa.
“There are no confirmed reports that this is a recurring phenomenon,” he said. “Neither do we have confirmation of reports of security personnel or soldiers being killed by government agents. Some of the overall confusion on this sensitive issue may stem from the widely reported presence of armed security agents and regime supporters in civilian clothes.”
US ambassador Susan Rice again accused Syria of “casting blame on outsiders” instead of responding to legitimate calls for reforms from the Syrian people.
She reiterated that Iran was supporting the Syrian crackdown using “the same brutal tactics” it did against its own people.
The US and the Europeans warned that unless the Syrian demands for reform were heeded quickly, they would be pressing for additional sanctions.
